Gabon: Employers request control of the private pension fund

Henri Claude Oyima, head of Gabon’s private bosses indicated Monday that the country’s struggling National Social Security Fund, CNSS, should be managed by the private sector per recommendations of Inter-African Conference on Social Security (CIPRES).

“We are the ones who pay, we think that we have to manage this institution and that the State must remain in the role of regulator and controller of the action. All our employees who retire are a problem, we, companies are obliged to take care of them when they retire,” said Oyima.

The CNSS is currently controlled by the state which in February fired the board and appointed an interim ad hoc committee for 12 months.

The fund has been struggling to pay pensions of retirees from the private sector. ANAREG, the union of Gabon’s retirees, has slammed the government decision arguing that 10 various managers were appointed over the 13 past years but all failed to address issues dogging the fund.

“A general manager from the private sector could put an end to the successive casting errors at the head of the CNSS. Ten general managers have succeeded one another, but the same problems have persisted,” said Mathurin Mengue Bibang, communication adviser of the struggling pension fund.